Who Is the World's Richest Man?

There are a record 1,226 billionaires in the world this year worth a combined $4.6 trillion, according to the 2012 Forbes World's Billionaires list. Reigning as the wealthiest among them — the richest man in the world — for the third year in a row is Carlos Slim Helú, a Mexican telecom magnate with $69 billion to his name.

But Helú's fortune is falling and he may soon be surpassed as the world’s wealthiest person. The 72-year-old's net worth is down $5 billion this year compared to 2011, and the gap between him and the former world's richest man, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, has narrowed. Gates, 56, added $5 billion to his worth over the past year, bringing his total to $61 billion.

Warren Buffett, an octogenarian American investor nicknamed the "Oracle of Omaha," ranks at no. 3, with a net worth of $44 billion.

Here's the full top-10 list of the world’s richest people as of March 2012, as seen at Forbes.com:

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